my discotheque juliet teenage dream

Today was actually mostly lovely despite the ongoing shitshow that is my job. I know, I'm as shocked as you are. I got up at 5:30 (pain), showered, and took more time than usual with my hair and makeup since I decided to dress up for Halloween. I recreated my prom queen costume from college (different dress, same tiara), with some awesome eye makeup and an appearance by Prom King (my fake newborn baby). All in all, I would say it was a success, but I felt a bit out of place since no one else on my team dressed up (beyond a sailor hat worn by one of the guys). Luckily, I rocked it, including in a meeting with a bunch of directors, none of whom were dressed up either. Heh.

But that was all good. I was in the office by 8:15, which gave me time to get coffee at coffee lab and breakfast next door (a recreation of yesterday, down to the poached eggs and the company) before my meetings began for the day. And if I'm honest, the day was not particularly onerous - yes, what I'm working on currently is highly annoying, but I took a two-hour break in the middle of the day to go to the indian restaurant on campus and then do some impromptu bowling with some of the team. Bowling in a short cocktail dress and tiara seemed to work for me, since I scored 100 - not a hugely impressive score, but respectable enough and totally worth whatever foot fungus I'll get from wearing bowling shoes without socks. I know.

Then I went back to the office and slogged for another four hours, mostly successfully. After that, I had grand plans to meet up with Jess, who works in the Seattle office but was in town for the week. Dave came too, and the three of us had an awesome dinner at Vive Sol. After that I was thinking I should go home, but Jess wasn't ready to go back to her sad corporate apartment yet, so we had a drink at Steins and continued the fun.

I dropped her off at 8:40ish, took Dave back to campus, and then spent ten minutes with him tearing apart the front half of my car - he spilled to me earlier that someone else in our group had planted a device in my car, which explains why I've been hearing an occasional, very brief, but very annoying high-pitched whine every 4-5 minutes for the last couple of weeks. I had just been thinking that I should probably not leave my keys on my desk as I usually do, and it turns out I'm right - at some point recently, when I went to a meeting, someone grabbed my keys and took care of business. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it despite digging through the center console, the glove compartment, and every other thing we could think of, so I got to listen to it on the way home and plot my revenge.

But now I am super tired and need to sleep if I'm going to survive work tomorrow - at least I can work from home, which is the only thing that may save me. Goodnight!

take aim and reload

My midwestern soul is feeling a bit like I betrayed the cause, but I was all in on the Giants today. I got up super early, was out the door by 6:40, and then ended up stuck behind an accident, so it took me an hour and twenty minutes to get to work. Ugh. But I wrote Thorington for an hour and totally loved what I got done, so that was great. Then I had breakfast with Dave, who happened to run across me at Coffee Lab - I may have voluntarily eaten quinoa for breakfast, but in my defense it came with some delicious poached eggs and sausage, so I'll take it. Also, it was free, which I have clearly forgotten is an incredible luxury.

Then I went to my building and slogged excessively all day. It was mostly meetings, but they were mostly good, so at least there's that. I left the meetings at five and went to the gym (I KNOW), mostly because it was one of the only places with tvs on campus, and I wanted to watch the game but didn't want to suffer through another two-hour commute. So I spent 75 minutes on the treadmill, watching the game, talking to the coworker I met there, and generally sweating more than I should have since I was being an all-star roommate and wearing the sweater that Terry had insisted I wear again today.

But it seems to have worked! I gave up on the treadmill at 6:30ish, gave up on the idea of dinner when I saw the lines, ate some cereal, left at seven, and was home by eight, so clearly leaving later was way better. I got back during the eighth inning, which meant I got to enjoy the last bit of the game with Terry, and it was all totally lovely. Now I'm hatching plans (or rather, going along with plans) to move some of my Friday meetings up to SF so we can go to the parade - sounds like a good idea, right?

Now, though, I desperately need sleep, particularly if I want to follow through with my plan of dressing up for work halloween tomorrow (which may or may not happen - I'm not feeling it right now, but maybe I'll change my mind in the morning). Goodnight!

come on hide your lovers underneath the covers

Another brutal day - this refrain is likely getting as old for you as it is for me. I woke up at six, wrote until eight (successfully!), worked until ten, trained with Alyssa, and then slogged relentlessly until 4:30 (okay, not so relentless - I did take a break for coffee, but I consider that a requirement these days). Then I endured an almost two-hour commute, since clearly everyone wanted to come home and watch the Giants/Royals game. And as it turned out, everyone was wrong in trying to get home to watch it, since it was a bloodbath.

But I got home eventually (and was even not that stabby when I finally made it here), and I went to Des Amis for the third night in a row, where I wrote again. I'm happy with how this scene finally turned out, and there's only one scene left to fix/rewrite, so I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, I can get through it tomorrow. But either way, this fucker may actually come out sooner rather than later - we can all hope that's the case, since clearly I'm going to go crazy if I don't get done with Thorington soon.

Now, though, after doing an hour of work for the day job to wrap up my day of brutality, I must sleep so I can do it all again tomorrow. Goodnight!

until the love runs out

I wanted to go to bed forty-five minutes ago (yes, at nine p.m., I'm old), but I made the mistake of checking my work email, and so I got sucked in until now. Today was decent, but I find it impossible to believe that it's only Monday - surely it must be Wednesday, given how much I've done already? I woke up at 5:45, was a bit sluggish getting ready, and so didn't get out the door until 6:40ish - which would have been fine except I forgot that I was out of gas. So by the time I filled up and made it out of the city, my commute took an hour and a half. Sucks.

But I slogged incessantly from 8:20 to 4:15ish, with nary a break in sight (although I did get coffee, but those of us who got coffee talked about work the whole time, so it doesn't count). Then I drove home, took care of house chores, and went to Des Amis, where I finally got the breakthrough I was looking for in terms of writing productivity and finished one of the scenes that was blocking me. YES.

And now I'm going to go to bed, get up super early, and write before taking meetings from home and then going to the gym - wish me luck. Goodnight!

the fakers gonna fake fake fake fake fake

I meant to go to bed an hour ago, but watching the game and doing laundry meant a lack of proper bedtime. Today wasn't the glorious slog I expected - I was too distracted and stressed by life, and the writing was like pulling teeth. I probably should have just taken the day off, but I of course put way too much pressure on myself like I usually do.

But I made a lot of notes on what to do next, and I made some key edits to earlier stuff to support those changes, so that's good. I also took a long walk and talked to my parents, bought a ridiculously large pair of dark sunglasses to make myself feel better, and ate steak at Des Amis to complete my cure. And i watched the game - I was under orders to wear yesterday's sweater again, and I also had to drink Bailey's again (such a chore), but we won again, so I guess you can guess what I'll be wearing/drinking Tuesday. Of course, my Iowa heart feels a little guilty, but since I live with someone who will murder me in my sleep if I cheer against the giants, I'll continue to be a traitor to the Midwest.

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

i knew you were trouble when you walked in

I think I finally figured out what's wrong with the end of my book - like, for real figured it out, not the false realizations I had over the past few days. Unfortunately, that means I have to scrap some of what I'd already written, but not much - and I'm hopeful that a long and brutal slog tomorrow can get me to the end of it. And to that end, I'm going to go to bed early so that I can hopefully wake up fresh and clear tomorrow...

...because today was neither fresh nor clear. I woke up at seven, eventually made myself some tea, but was distracted from coming back to the writing because there were two people sleeping in my living room (Lisa and Ginger, who were Terry's friends in college). I'm friends with them as well, although I'm closer to Lisa, and she came into the kitchen while I was making tea, so I shared my tea with her. It was great to catch up with her, even if we were whispering while doing so. Then I came upstairs, contemplated Thorington, eventually took a shower, ate some breakfast, and went to Rapha, where I spent another two hours contemplating. And the trouble all became apparent when I finally forced a character to show up and then realized that he shouldn't be there at all. Ugh.

So I bought myself flowers and went home. Then I had a late lunch at Delarosa; the food was excellent, as per usual, and we didn't have to wait for a table, which is nearly unheard of (this is the advantage of eating lunch at 1:30pm, I guess). I also quite enjoyed my sparkling rosé, although I probably shouldn't have had it since I came home at three and immediately needed a nap. Oops.

And then I was completely unproductive the rest of the day. I went downstairs to make some tea at fourish, just as Terry and Ginger came back (it's their reunion weekend, hence the guests in the living room), and so I talked to them for awhile. Then Ginger went on a run and Terry and I continued to catch up, since we really haven't seen each other alone since before I went to Germany. Then I made chili for supper, and we ended up watching the second half of the Giants game (we skipped the first half because Terry couldn't bear to watch). And now that we won, Terry has ordered me to continue wearing the spiffy Giants sweater I was wearing for every remaining game of the series. Heh. Luckily, I happen to like that sweater, and it's super comfy, so this is not as onerous as it might sound (as long as it doesn't get any warmer, since I might overheat otherwise).

But one of the things Terry and I talked through was the end of Thorington, and so I'm feeling more hope about tomorrow than I've felt in a v. long time. And that means that sleeping now is an excellent idea. Goodnight!

we'll never be royals

Today was a very long day that went about as opposite as I could have planned for it. If there's any benefit to the work situation I was dealing with last night, it's that it may have gotten me back onto my normal schedule - I went to bed later, and so I didn't get out of bed until a little after seven this morning. Shocking, I know. But as soon as I got out of bed, I spent the entire day until approximately five p.m. dealing with work stuff. The only two breaks I took (a shower + walking down the street to get coffee; eating leftover pizza and making tea don't seem to count) were both interrupted by phone calls, and I spent the rest of the time staring mindlessly at my laptop.

This was all v. annoying, because I had grand plans to write for a couple of hours before work and then take care of a bunch of stuff that I've been putting off at work. Ugh. But I did finally stop working at five, and I went to Sabrosa and ate tacos and read through what I wrote over the past couple of days. But I wasn't feeling looking at a small screen, so I instead looked at a large screen and watched most of the baseball game. Then I came home, still didn't want to look at a screen, and so reread one of my favorite comfort books (a Robin McKinley fantasy) to try to clear my head of work so that I can slog all weekend and hopefully (fingers crossed) get Thorington out into the world.

But to do that, I need sleep - goodnight!

don't you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me

Today was entirely annoying, with the exception of one glorious hour of writing I accomplished at the office before work. I woke up at 5:40ish, was out the door by 6:25, and so had time at the office to think about my own stuff before the slog began.

But when the slog finally did begin, it was mostly brutal. I did have a break for a team lunch, and I snuck away to have coffee by myself later while doing some annoying tasks (although someone crashed my coffee party, but I guess I'll survive). Then I had a team meeting, and I got out of there at 4:25 with the intention of enjoying the city...

...but instead, my commute took ninety minutes, and I arrived to a missed call from my boss + texts from multiple people in regards to some fairly annoying task that suddenly blew up. No big deal, but it meant I worked from six to ten, with a v. brief break for a waxing appointment. This was a real bummer, since I had planned to go out and eat and drink and be merry (or at least write), and instead I ordered a pizza and grew gradually more stabby as the evening progressed.

But whatever - they pay me for my expertise at making order out of chaos, and there hadn't been any chaos in awhile, so I was probably overdue. And now I'm going to go to bed and hope they don't blow up more overnight, since I'd like to write in the morning before working. Wish me luck with that - goodnight!

i've gotta stay high all the time to get you off my mind

Today was somewhat of a rinse and repeat of yesterday - I got up too early, laid in bed thinking I might fall asleep again, failed to fall asleep, and so went to the office. Unfortunately, traffic already sucked at 6:45, so it took an hour and fifteen minutes to get to work. But that still gave me an hour to work on zee romance novel when I got there, which was v. much appreciated...

...but it was all downhill from there. I had some meetings, did some work, had lunch with a few coworkers, met with some more people, had some coffee (the caffeine situation in my veins is getting dire), did more meetings, and then adjourned to Wine Wednesday. Sadly, I wasn't really feeling the wine and my partner in crime wasn't really feeling life, so I made my escape, went to another cafe on campus, put on some sweats, and tried to write some more. But that was an exercise in total futility, so I came home. And now I'm going to continue to wreck my sleep schedule by going to bed early - goodnight!

but i keep moving, can't stop, won't stop cruising

I woke up this morning hoping to accomplish two hours of writing, but I really on succeeded for forty minutes or so. The key to breaking through the block turned out to be to skip the chapter I was writing/rewriting and just go straight to the last chapter that I haven't written - as soon as I started that one, I almost immediately wrote three pages. Ha. So clearly there's something wrong with the structure/tone/whatever of the chapter preceding it that I can't see yet, but I'm hoping that writing the last chapter will enable me to figure out how to fix the previous one.

Sorry, that's boring. By eight a.m. I was really getting into the groove, and that's when I had to abandon my writing life to take a couple of hours of meetings from home. Once I accomplished that, I drove to the glorious south bay and trained with Alyssa - she continues to push her nefarious kettlebell agenda, so now I'm swinging 20kg bells, which I oddly find kind of fun. What is wrong with me?!

So, the workout was great, but I was pretty tired the rest of the day - I don't think the salad I had for lunch really cut it, but I didn't have time to find something else. I had meetings straight from 1pm to 4pm, then did a bit of work for another thirty minutes, then cut out early to avoid traffic. That wasn't a success, since it took me ninety minutes to get home, but at least I got here in time to take care of some tings, change my clothes, and relax just a little bit before going out for dinner. Terry, Subz and I went to Presidio Social Club (which continues to leave me bemused - the food is good and the location is great, but the service is always, always questionable), where we caught up for a couple of hours while Terry was mildly distracted by the Giants/Royals game. I hadn't seen Terry since before I went to Germany, since she left for NYC the day I got back, so we had a lot to discuss. And it was great, as usual, to see Lauren, since she's awesome.

But now I must sleep - I have grand plans to continue going to bed early and getting up early, with even grander plans to work on the last chapter tomorrow morning before work. Goodnight!

can't go home alone again, need someone to numb the pain

I was, shockingly, productive at work. I KNOW. Unfortunately, between the hour and twenty minutes I spent getting there, the hour I spent getting back, and my general exhaustion from not having slept well last night, I wasn't very well-equipped to write tonight. I got home at five with the intention of writing like a madwoman - but instead I spent a couple of hours texting, chatting, calling, and generally reconnecting with real people rather than reconnecting with Thorington. Oops.

But tomorrow is another day, and since I can work from home in the morning, I'm going to indulge in my desire to go to bed too early so that I can get up too early and write before work, when everything is fresh and lovely and not distracting. Goodnight!

most nights i don't know

Today was good for my psyche, but bad for my writing - but I need to stop saying that if I have any hope of being nicer to myself and not making so much ride on my productivity. And anyway, I did write; I may not have finished the book today, but I got a few hours of good productivity in this morning early (6:45am to ~10am) before hitting the wall. Then I showered, ate some peanut butter, procrastinated, and met up with Lauren (aka Subz) for manis/pedis + lunch at Roam. I don't think I'd seen her since Terry's birthday dinner (which was three days after my birthday dinner), and it was awesome to catch up with her in a v. relaxed, cozy sort of way.

After we parted ways, I considered the book again for awhile before throwing in the towel. Then I took a walk and talked to my parents; I'm trying to keep up the walking that I did in Europe (sans the drinking that I did in Europe), and walking down to the water while discussing life with them seemed like a great way to do so. I also talked to [censored] on the way home, which was good since it had been ages since we'd caught up. Then I grabbed an iced latte, worked for thirty minutes or so, and went out for family dinner with Chandlord, Katrina, John, Jess, and Maya at Chow. They were all in fine form, as always, although several people seemed quite tired - but I think Katrina's obsession with bike messengers more than made up for it.

And now, since I'm one of the people who was quite tired by the end, I'm going to go to bed so that I can get up and write before work - goodnight!

blow me one last kiss

I know it's a mistake to go to bed now if I have any hope of getting over the jet lag, but I'm beyond exhausted - I got up at 5:30 and spent most of the day struggling with Thorington, who gave me little joy. Luckily I had some afternoon wine with Chandlord, which helped tremendously. But I'm tired of fighting the book, and I seem to do better in the mornings anyway, so screw common sense - I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

some nights i wish they'd just fall off

The jetlag was brutal today, repaying me for how easy the jetlag was when I went to Germany - but I suppose it's easier to overcome jetlag when one is hanging out and drinking and laughing rather than sitting at a desk and longing for the sweet release of death. I woke up sometime around 3:15am, and while my jawbone wristband says that I slept again after that, I mostly tossed and turned and dozed and had vivid dreams until six. So, needless to say, I was beyond tired when I finally dragged myself out of bed.

The first stop was Alyssa, whom I hadn't seen in over two weeks; she did not take it easy on me, but since I walked so much in Europe and generally ate pretty well (other than consuming my body weight in champagne), it all went okay. It was great to see her, as usual, even if I'll remember her all weekend because my legs feel like dead weights. Then I went to the office, showered, and stared at my screen in an attempt to figure out how to do some work.

That was mostly a lost cause. But I pulled myself together, made a latte, and had a walking 1:1 with my boss. The caffeine and the fact that I had to stay on my feet and not fall flat on my face meant that I was able to stay awake and mostly coherent through our meeting, which was better than I expected to do. Then I had a meeting with someone on my team, and I think I pulled it off as well. After that, I had lunch with a coworker (outside, since clearly sunshine was the only thing that could save me), spent an hour doing my expense report for my trip, and then walked over to the coffee lab to grab coffee. I had almost left before that in an effort to get back to the city, but as it turns out the walk + conversation + delish New Orleans iced coffee they were serving there may have been the only things that made me capable of driving. So, yay to that.

But I left the office around 2:40, got home within an hour (thank you, Jesus), and promptly put my pajamas on and crawled into bed for two hours. I think I only slept for thirty minutes of that, but it was so nice to just do nothing. Then I grabbed dinner at Sabrosa, came home and folded all my laundry, and am now going to try to read for a few minutes so I can make it to the more respectable hour of 9:30pm before crashing.

This weekend is all about finishing Thorington, so expect this to get even more boring before the end - sorry. Goodnight!

some nights i wish that my lips could build a castle

I managed to get through today without hitting the jetlag wall too hard, which is kind of a miracle since I went to bed at nine last night and woke up at 4:30am this morning. I laid in bed for forty minutes or so trying to sleep, and I may have dozed just a bit, but by 5:15ish I threw in the towel and got up, showered, put on a cute dress, did my hair, etc. Getting out the door at 6:20 proved to be amazing, since the drive took less than an hour - but despite how amazing it was, this isn't a feat I particularly care to reaccomplish anytime soon.

But even though I got up so early, I made it through work in surprisingly fine form. I worked on Thorington for an hour over breakfast and then had meetings most of the day, but I took a nice lunch break to grab food with some coworkers, followed by coffee (iced latte with an extra shot) to try to keep myself caffeinated. I wasn't particularly productive beyond my meetings, but that was to be expected, I think.

And I knew I had to conserve my energy for dinner with my team - we went to Cascal, where we ate a lot of tapas-type things. The conversation was generally v. entertaining and we got to enjoy the outdoor patio, so it was all quite lovely. Then I drove Andrew back to the city with me, and we reached city just in time to see the fireworks they shot off to celebrate the Giants' victory, so that was cool.

Now, though, I'm desperate to sleep, and I hope I get eight or nine hours without waking up in the middle of the night...but it seems unlikely. Goodnight!

tearing at my brains again

I made it home! But I'm too tired to blog and am trying to limit my screen time so I can be coherent tomorrow. Wish me luck with that - goodnight!

shut up and dance

Today was another long day of working, but I was mostly successful in my slogging. I also left the office at a reasonable hour so that I could walk into the city center while it was still almost light out (okay, maybe not, since it started raining on my walk). I had an earlyish supper at an Italian place with gluten-free pasta, then walked back to my hotel, did a bit more stuff online, and packed all my stuff for tomorrow's flight. I have to get up at 5:30ish so that I can go to the airport, which is likely going to suck, but my reward for getting up is going home, so I think I can do it.

By this time tomorrow, I should be three-ish hours from landing in San Francisco - fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly, since I would like to make it home without serious drama. Europe has been very fun, but I'm very ready to get back to my regularly scheduled like (and hopefully get Thorington's book out this weekend so that I can fully move on to better and more interesting things). Goodnight!

i can shake it shake it like i'm supposed to

I have absolutely nothing of interest to report because I slogged hard and fast all day to start trying to make a dent in the work I should have done over the last two weeks. I'm trying to get caught up so that I can write/sleep on the plane and set myself up for success when I get home, but we'll see if that plan works out for me (seems doubtful). But today was mostly meetings - since I'm in Dublin to meet with the team here, it would make sense that I would be talking to people rather than holed up with my laptop by myself.

But my meetings were all grand, as they say here. I also had lunch with some of the team, and the cafe proved that things are way, way better in Dublin than they were when I lived here - the office has expanded dramatically (they even added a skywalk between three buildings, which is cray cray since they only had one building when I was here), and the food choices are way better. And I skipped out for an hour in the afternoon because I wanted to take a walk and get some air while it was still light out - so I walked down to Grafton Street, which was home to many of the shopping excursions I took when I lived here (as evidenced by the fact that I didn't remember a lot of stuff, but I remembered what seemed like every store on Grafton Street).

After work, I came back to the hotel, ate supper, and slogged until now. And now I must sleep so that I can engage in a similar death march tomorrow before heading back home on Wednesday (not a moment too soon - I'm half sick of travel). Goodnight!

every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied

Hello, Dublin! I haven't been here since 2010, during the epic trip I took from Koolwal's wedding -> several days stranded in DC by the Icelandic volcano -> London -> Paris (where I seemed to have some form of whooping cough) -> Dublin. So far I haven't noticed many changes, but that could be because the cabbie smelled more like a pig farm than anything I've smelled since a pig farm, which made for a rather awful ride. Or maybe I'm the one who smells, since I still seem to smell it, but that could be because I'm tired and hallucinating. Or it's possible I'm getting sick - everything feels vaguely fuzzy, which doesn't bode well...

...but today was a good day despite it. I got nineish hours of sleep, did an hour of work for the day job, showered, had breakfast (a worse choice than yesterday - scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, since I was trying to be healthier than french toast, but the salmon was too oily for my tastes; hopefully it's not food poisoning that's making me feel woozy), and packed everything so I could check out by noon. Then I spent a delightful, wonderful, awesome three hours at the V&A Museum - I adore that place more than possibly any other museum in the world, since they have a lot of cool information about how furnishings, textiles, ceramics, etc. are made, all of which is v. inspiring to my writing. So I took a ton of pictures, read a ton of placards, bought an awesome necklace to commemorate my trip, and had a quick lunch in their cafe to keep myself from fainting. All in all, it was great!

Then I went back to the hotel, had a quick pot of tea and a bit of chocolate while scribbling in my journal, and then took a taxi to the airport. The taxi was supposed to obviate the need to walk a lot since I wasn't feeling well (otherwise I would have taken the substantially cheaper Underground, but that would have involved walking two blocks + carrying my suitcase up and down a bunch of stairs). And the taxi driver was nice - but then he dropped me off at Terminal 5, and I didn't realize it until I was already inside. This was annoying, since I needed to be in Terminal 2 (and had told him that twice). So I ended up on the Underground after all, since that was the best way between terminals. Ha.

But I was still early enough that when I checked in, they bumped me to a flight that left an hour earlier. That was all entirely uneventful, and I didn't get threatened with deportation in Ireland, so that was a plus. I got to my hotel without incident (and after having burned out my sense of smell), checked in, and discovered that it's more quaint than any hotel I've ever stayed in (well, maybe not, but considering I feel that way after staying in a castle last week, you can guess that it's pretty fucking quaint). I grabbed dinner in the restaurant downstairs, which was one of my old favorites when I lived here, but they appear to have remodeled and it doesn't feel the same (although it may perhaps be better).

And now I should sleep - I have to go to the office in the morning and try to remember how to be a contributing, functioning member of the team after what was essentially a ten-day non-working junket of fun and regret. Goodnight!

somewhere along the way my bitterness turned to anger

It feels a little lame to go to bed at 10:30pm on a Saturday in a foreign city, but since my main goals are to write and recover from a weeklong bender, this is exactly what I need to do. Today was lovely, though - I got nine hours of sleep, lazed around for a bit, showered, and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (which is way nicer than most hotel restaurants - it's apparently a destination in its own right). I had their gluten-free french toast with bacon and banana, and it was totally scrumptious. I also wrote in my journal for a bit while I lingered over my tea, until the breakfast crowd turned into the brunch crowd and some obnoxiously loud men turned up, at which point I was done.

Then I adjourned to the tea room and worked on zee book for a couple of hours. But then I realized that I should probably go out and walk/explore since I'm in London and not SF, and so I went to Tower Hill to see the poppies that they're installing for the WWI memorial. They're putting in ~880k ceramic poppies in honor of all the Commonwealth casualties in WWI, and it was really gorgeous (although there were too many people there). Then I took the Underground part of the way back, got out at Westminster, looked briefly at the outside of Westminster Palace + Westminster Abbey, and then continued my peregrinations. I walked through St. James's Park, strolled past Buckingham Palace, walked to Hyde Park Corner and admired the Marble Arch, and then walked through Kensington to my hotel. It was all very civilized and lovely, and I'm feeling somewhat inspired (I think).

When I got here, I dumped my stuff and promptly grabbed a very early supper since I was starving - there's an Italian place down the street that does a great gluten-free pasta, which I enjoyed while working on the back cover copy for Thorington. Then I took a twenty-minute nap, put on something cute, and ventured back out to Piccadilly to meet up with Jess (a girl from work) and her friend for a drink at Bob Bob Ricard. It's a super posh, swanky restaurant/bar, where the cocktails are like $30 each (which is expensive even for my outrageous tastes), but the decor was awesome and it was great to see Jess in a non-work environment. After, I came back here, contemplated writing, and realized that I'd rather sleep and get up early tomorrow to write (or get up late tomorrow after sleeping for another nine hours, which sounds amazing). Goodnight!